2009 FLC Cycling MTB National Champions!
Welcome riders. We will have our first team meeting this Tuesday, August 31st in Noble Hall 130 at 8pm. Meeting starts at 8:00 so don’t be late.
The agenda will be introductions, racing schedule, team information, paperwork, and all that jazz! Come meet your teammates, new riders, coaches, ECT.
We are looking forward to seeing you all and to continuing the FLC Cycling Legacy. See you there!
Hey hey hey,
(Click on links below to get the paperwork/forms you’ll need for the upcoming year)
It is about that time you bunch of bike racers – collegiate season is getting underway the first weekend of school (Sept.3-5) with a track training mission and MTBers headed to Gunnison for the first conference race of the year! Please read everything below because we don’t want to have to answer questions later that have been included here.
That means we have to be on top of our paperwork so we can get as many as possible who want to go to these events. I have attached the paperwork for both New and Returning Club members. If you have not raced for FLC before then you obviously have to fill out the New Member Release Packet10 paperwork – if you have raced for FLC before then Returning member Release Packet10.
A very important thing is the physical – you can either get one where you are now (be sure to have a statement signed by your doctor saying you are fit to compete in the sport of cycling. For those of you who will be in town the Thursday and Friday (Aug. 26-27) before school starts you need to get your physical at the Health Center on those days – this is important as they want to try to get all athletes in before school starts – you will need to bring the Medical History form the is part of the attached forms with you and it will cost $15. If you can’t make those days then you will need to get an appointment the first week of school – which could be tough so please try to make it on the 26th and 27th.
Another important thing is insurance coverage so be sure you have some and make a copy of your card while at home in case you don’t have one with you here at school.
Another important thing is having a collegiate license – do it now if you don’t have one at usacycling.org – be sure to choose Fort Lewis College as your club and make sure you have been placed in the correct category. Print out the authorization to ride as there could be a chance you won’t get your license by the time we go racing.
PLAN ON PAYING DUES AT THE FIRST MEETING, WHICH IS ON TUESDAY AUGUST 31st AT 8pm IN NOBLE 130 – you will not be allowed to race or have access to any of the other benefits of the club if you haven’t paid dues.
I have also attached the FLC Cycling Club Requirements 10.11 that you all should know like the back of your hand by the time you get to school – be sure to note that you will have to race in the most current FLC jersey this coming year – if you didn’t get a chance to order one yet then we will have a limited number on hand for sale/borrow and will be doing a clothing order the first week of school so you can get your own.
The lowdown on Track Training is if you are interested you can go the first weekend to get some experience and if deemed you have potential to go to Nationals for FLC you will get in some racing to get the proper race experience to get the necessary upgrades. The second weekend (Sept. 10-12) of Track Training will be for those assured of being on the Nats team and those on the bubble – we will most likely take 6 guys and 4 girls. Nationals are in Indianapolis and the team will be flying out Tuesday Sept. 21 and returning Sunday Sept. 26.
MTB season starts with the Western State home race at Hartmans Rocks with a XC, STXC and 2 DH runs. Sweet XC riding and short but burly DH course. We leave at 12noon and 3pm on Fridays and return late Sunday nights for the entire MTB season.
REMEMBER – we camp out for MTB season so be sure to have a sleeping bag and tent or join Outdoor Pursuits ($40 and well worth it) up here at the college and pick your gear up on Wednesdays.
Sept. 11-12 is the MTB race in Sol Vista hosted by Mines – great courses all around.
The next weekend is our home race with new XC, STXC and DH courses. We will need tons of help in the weeks leading up to it prepping all the courses so plan on doing some volunteer time.
The next weekend for MTBers is up in Winter Park for CU’s home race (DH conference finals), but it is also our annual scholarship fundraiser, the Fall Blaze and Track Nationals – talk about being spread out.
The last MTB conference race is up in the Grand Junkyard hosted by Mesa with some great XC riding and the DS course is amazing.
MTB Nats are once again at Northstar at Tahoe, CA and hopefully they get 5 inches of rain before the race again.
We will have Tommy T. and Heikki Hall as our Gravity Coaches, Ian Burnett as our Track Coach and have Chad Cheeney providing additional support when we travel to MTB races.
Gravity racers will have DH practice at 4pm on Tuesdays and gate practice at 5pm on Wednesdays at the BMX track.
Below is the schedule and you can also find the MTB schedule at rmccc.org.
That is about all I can type in one sit down – more info as my fingers stop bleeding.
Dave
Sept. 4-5 – Track Training @ Csprings, MTB @ Gunnison
Sept. 11-12 – Track Training @ Csprings, MTB @ Sol Vista
Sept. 18-19 – Home MTB race
Sept. 24-26 – Track Nationals @ Indianapolis, Fall Blaze @ Durango, MTB @ Winter Park
Oct. 2-3 – MTB Nats @ Tahoe, CA
PS – The CX series will start on Oct. 31 have have 8 races in it.
We had another great year at the Hermosa race and once again Mother Nature smiled upon us. After rain for much of the day on Friday and ominous clouds looming over the La Platas all day Saturday, not a single drop fell on the racers. Though it did come down pretty hard at about 5pm on Saturday only the hearty campers were left to take it in.
There were a record number of entrants this year – 98 – thanks to everyone who showed up. Thanks to all the volunteers, a couple of them (EB and Whitney) spent around 48 hours helping to put the race on. A special thanks goes out to the motorcycle medics/volunteers who donated their time to make sure the course was a safe one on race day by cutting down 10+trees on Thursday and being the lead and sweep motos on race day.
Sponsors once again stepped up to help create the prize list but also donated items for the BBQ and volunteers meals. SRAM once again came to the plate big time with some serious product and schwag – thanks a million. The other sponsors that made it possible were: Zia Taqueria, Iron Horse Bicycle Classic, Irish Embassy, King Cage, Chip Peddler, Ska Brewing, Republic of Doom, Durango Coca-Cola, Continental Tires, Boure, Bread, 2nd Ave. Sports and the Durango Cyclery. More special thanks goes out to the Durango Fun Center for letting us use their radios and repeater that gives us communication along the whole route (and really makes it possible to run a safe event).
Finish times were a little slower this year compared to last because the rain really soaked the upper portions of the trail and made Corral Draw (which some people claim is still a goat path) slippery in some spots.
Put it on your calendars for next year – the first weekend in August.
Thanks Again.
Everything is coming together and we’ll be racing tomorrow morning at 9am. One clarification – the Herald stated that winners of the Singlespeed A category would get a free “trip” to New Zealand for SSWC10 it is actually free “entry” – sorry for the confusion. Though we’d like to send the winners on with a free trip to NZ we’d have to raise the entry fee for the Hermosa Classic to $150 per person. See y’all up there. More info below.
Fort Lewis College Cycling Skinsuit
It is time to get your FLC Cycling clothing in time for the Fall Racing season. It is simple! Step 1. Follow the Kit Order Link . Step 2, Place your order and pay. Step 3, wait for clothing to be delivered! Clothing will arrive in mid to late August in time for the Fall racing season. Get your clothing today!
NOTE: Please order the correct sizes. Exchanges are extremely limited as we don’t order much extras. IMPORTANT: If you are an FLC Cyclist already, you must also purchase one jersey at minimum. This includes all disciplines (Track, Gravity, Cross Country Riders, Road, and Cyclocross). You cannot race in your old Fort Lewis College clothing .
It is back again for 2010 and the date is Saturday July, 31. Same great course, prizes and Post-race BBQ. Campouts on both Friday and Saturday nights to hang with your comrades.
10 Hermosa Off Road Classic Flyer
Check back often for updates.
Results:
Men: 3rd Place
Women: 7th Place.
Sunday’s Team Time Trial was expected to be Fort Lewis College Cycling Team’s best chance at getting a win. The 19.2 mile out and back course was relatively flat with a couple of small rolling hills and was located out in Wisconsin’s farm land with a beautiful landscape. The start was just down the street from the Trek Bicycle factory who was extremely generous with their contributions to this year’s Road Race Nationals. FLC was excited for the TTT there are not nearly as many variables to worry about; such as pack position, dealing with inexperienced riders, attacking, etc. Read More…
Results just in: Fort Lewis College’s Cycling Team is now the nation’s #1 ranked division I team!!!
Matt Shriver explains what exactly this ranking is and what it means. “In any given season there are four national events. The season starts with track, then mountain, followed by cyclocross and ends with road. There are several titles that are awarded at every event. You have individual race winners, overall team winners (team omnium), conference winners, overall event race winners (individual omnium), and then the overall team winners for the year (overall team omnium) which coincides with the rank of the team. Read More…
Magen quick off the line.
After an ill fated road race, where half of the Fort Lewis College Cycling team flatting, everyone woke up pumped to head to Wisconsin’s state capitol building with high hopes for the criterium. Women were set to start at 4 o’clock with a 45 minute race and the men’s race at 6 with 60 minutes of racing. The weather was still cold and cloudy but no severe rain was in the forecast so conditions may not have been ideal but was definitely better than Friday. Read More…
Here are FLC’s results for the weekend.
Men’s Criterium:
11th Alister Ratcliff
15th Jesse Dekrey
20th Rotem Ishay
88th Cody Stephenson Read More…
View photos here.
The men quickly get ready for their race.
As the weather predicted the FLC cycling team woke up to rain and cold temperatures in Madison, WI today. The men’s team had an 8:30AM start so they were up, packed, fed, and had hit the road by 6:45. After a few wrong turns the team arrived with just enough time to get a quick warm up in and make it to the start on time. Luckily the support staff was on top of their game and had left the hotel an hour before the racers in order to get tents, trainers, water and food all organized and set up at the race course so it was ready when the team arrived. The men’s race started with rain drizzling down and the temperature around 45 degrees, which set the scene for a brutal day of racing. Unfortunately Fort Lewis was bombarded with flats all day which seemed to be the story for many teams. The race did have neutral support which was provided by Shimano, who did a good job but was not able to keep up with all of the flat tires. Read More…
Fort Lewis Cycling has a new FLickr page!!! Check out all of the latest pictures here. Or go to http://www.flickr.com/photos/flccycling/
Friday is the beginning of USA Cycling’s Collegiate National Championships, kicking off with the Men’s Road Race which starts at 8:30AM and the Women’s at 1PM. The course is not what you expect of a Midwestern RR, with 8,000 vertical feet of climbing in the men’s race and 6,000 in the women’s. Read More…
Sage Wilderman, left, and Sarah Sturm Stretch before pre-riding the RR course.
The Fort Lewis College National Championship Cycling Team started their Thursday off with a better than average continental breakfast. Everyone took their time eating and chatting in the lobby of the hotel before they went to change into their chamois. The team departed from the hotel for their hour drive to the road race course at 9AM which lies in Wisconsin’s Blue Mounds State Park.
The Team pre-riding the RR course.
Most people would assume that a road race in the Midwest would be pancake flat, well they are wrong. This year’s Collegiate Cycling Nationals RR course has 8,000 vertical feet of climbing for the men and 6,ooo vertical feet of climbing for the women. Once the team arrived at Blue Mound’s, the support staff prepared all of the racer’s bikes who hit the pavement for a 15 mile pre-race lap. Once back at the cars everything was packed up and everyone but Jesse Dekrey and Rotem Ishay drove another hour to where the Team time trial was being held for a pre-ride on the course. Jesse and Rotem are not riding in the Team Time Trial since it is only a four person event. After the men and women finished riding the course everyone met back at the hotel.
Men's TTT pre-riding in a beautiful midwestern scenery.
All in all the day of pre-riding lasted seven hours and needless to say everybody was tired and hungry. Some decided to rest others got food, for the staff though, they had to keep working, getting everyone’s bikes race ready for the morning. The team re-convened at the hotel at six to go downtown and pick up race packets at the official “race hotel”. Finally all pre-race tasks were over and an early night was a necessity with a 5:30 wake up scheduled for Friday
Check out all of the photos from Thursday here.
